The Miller Of Old Church

ulder, and strolled in the direction of the meadows beyond the haunted Poplar Spring at the end of the lawn. It was a rimy October morning, and

n brown wind-rifts along the drive, where they had been blown during the nigh

a nervous irritation which was characteristic of him when he had been disturbe

akeful hours of the night. He felt, somehow, that she had been treated detestably, and he was angry with his uncle for having left him, as he described it, "in such a deu

into the golden pathway the sun made through the mist. At the same instant a shot rang out close beside him, and the bird dropped at his feet while Archie Revercomb sauntered slow

nd ignorant of the habits of the country into which he had come, he saw in the act, not the ancient Virginian acce

o you're not only shooting my partridges, but

alf understanding the words, "were

trouble you at the same time to han

ell, I like that!

them on my lan

ds before yours were ever heard of about here. A bird doesn't happen to be

that you don't respect a

open hunting in the time of the Jordans, and we're not going to keep off of

s own pasture on the subject of his own game by a handsome barbarian, whom he had caught red-handed in

fair warning," he retor

g on my land, I'll ha

Do you think I'

and a poacher, who had been caught with a stolen rabbit, humbly pulling the scant locks on his forehead. Well, this was one of the joys

robbery by such insolent rascals as you,

led at him. The boy's face was white under his sunburn, and the feathers on the pa

he taste of them, "as if the whole county doesn't know that you're another blackguard like your uncl

before he could speak again the

ld your tongue, y

had laid down, a shot passed over his h

turning away. "I'll shoot as straight as the man wh

n vaulting the rail fence he disappeared into the tangle o

e anger in Gay's face f

oyed by his impetuosity. "Who, I wonder, was the fello

osed; for instead of silencing the angry buzzing around his uncle's memory, he had probably raised a tumult which would deafen his own ears before it was o

g drops as the small red sun rose higher over the meadows, and it was against the shimmering background of foliage, that the figure of Blossom Revercomb appeared suddenly o

e of our cows broke pasture in the night and we think she must have crossed the creek and got over

harmed by the mental pictu

arkies because they are such terrible slatterns. Put a cow in th

the little brown mole played

ou are beautiful, Miss Keren-ha

ted periwinkles, dropped

sir, when you have se

lovely as you are this morning

just slip on any old

r-though I can imagine you in trailing

her face, as if her sou

hat else did you say,

he richest, softest, qu

o see it,"

ewer fine clothes you have on the better. Tell me, Blossom

are so few about here tha

at there's an enga

. But he fancies Molly Merryweather, they say, like all the others, t

gue lent a charm, he felt

n to tell me that Reuben's piquant little granddaughter

good, kind girl-but I sometimes think men like her because she is so contrary. My Uncle Abel ha

ngers some day, at her own fi

a little to be kind-one day she promises to marry Abel and

sentiment for the rector?"

anybody around here," she insisted,

in his nature to encourage a chivalrous desire to protect a woman who had betrayed, however innocently, a sentiment for another man. When the Reverend Mr. Mullen inadvertently introduced an emotional triangle, he had changed the sit

pulpit?" he inquired after a moment, "or does he wear the

ed to explain though her words trailed off in

eather's Mr.

cares for Molly-

that Molly doesn't ca

societies. She is the only girl in the congregation who never makes him anything to wear. Don't you thi

" replied Gay seriously, "I should think that

he thought, by the warm

contributed a decided

m beginning to be a little jealous of the Reverend Mulle

ndo,

ibe him to me, but paint him mild

hard, as though patiently stri

than you, but not quit

you have put

rehead. His eyes are grey and his mouth is small, with the most perfect teeth. He doesn't

ld

ou pardo

ally prostrated before such perfectio

o watch him in the pulpit. He

and spare not-how d

than, you are

that I am ug

ly. Indeed I di

ome as Reverend Orlan

ht her confusion the most

ome; but there's something about you, sir,"

You don'

learned to wear your Sunday clothes without remembering that they are your Sunday clothes. Of course, your

I shouldn't,

Mr. Jon

ever like me as well

and laid it on her large round arm a little above the elbow. The flush deepened in her fa

lf tender, "do you think you will ever l

ithdrawing her arm from his clasp, she stepped out of the

so much longer

longer will you like

he pressed nearer, and spok

ou afraid of me? Do you

an instant, and in that instant, as she looked u

ombs' pasture beyond. She did not look back, but sped as straight as a frightened hare to the covert; and by this brilliant, thoug

ct, he cherished somewhere in an obscure corner of his brain an image of perfection closely related to the type which he found least alluring in reality. Humanly tolerant of those masculine weaknesses he shared, he had erected mentally a pinnacle of virtue upon which he exacted that a frailer being should maintain an equilibrium. A pretty woman, it was true, might go at a merry pace provided she was not

s a Christian and a gentleman. His eyebrows, which were still dark and thick, hung prominently over his small, sparkling eyes behind gold rimmed spectacles, while a lock of silver hair was brushed across his forehead with the romantic wave which was fashionable in the period when Lord

ich he inhabited all women were fair and fragile and endowed with a quality which he was accustomed to describe as "solace." When occasionally, as in the case of Kesiah, one was thrust upon his notice, to whom by no stretch of the imagination these graces could be attributed, he disposed of the situation by the simple device of gazing above her head. In his long and intimate acquaintance, he had never looked Kesiah in the face, and he never intended to. He was perfectly aware that if he were for an instant to forget himself so far as to contempl

he buttered his waffles. "If I scared up one Molly

een more successful. There seems to be absolutely no respect for a man's property rights in th

t over your fields for generations, and he'd probably look upon an a

the landowner is u

e air as belonging to the man with the gun. On these large estates game was so plentiful in the old days and pot-hunters, as they call them, so few, that it didn't pay a man to watch out for his

ty will be after me like a pack of hounds, I suppose. I wonde

they are your next neighbours it was

of it, the youngster had that same rustic look to him. By Jo

up over his buckwheat cakes with the manner of a man who is about to argue

r the miller is probably the most popular man in the county." He paused, cleared his throat, and after a tentative glance at

library, Gay brought the conversation back again to t

vercombs?" he asked, with a disturbing memory o

fearful partisans, you see. However, it may lead to nothing worse than the miller's r

ction in that quarter

and striking a match on a silver box, he watched the th

e was some talk of arresting Abner Revercomb

f the brothers, isn't he?

of the way. These people have learned a lot in the last few years, and they are learning most of all that the accumulation of wealth is the real secret of dominance. When they get control of the money, they'll begin to strive after culture, and acquire a smattering of education instead. It's astonishing, perhaps, but the fact remains that a reputable, hard-worki

he thing that puzzles me is why in thunder his br

erryweather before-before she attracted your uncle's attention. Later the engagement was broken, and he married a cousin in a fit of temper, it was said at the time. There

quietly, "and I wish to heaven that I were

e presence even the thought of evil is banished. You have only to look into her face to discern how pure and spotless she has kept her soul. My old friend Jonathan was very devoted to her. She represented, indeed,

ied insane,

mber, in rendering our verdict, that if Janet Merryweather had

r daughter? The child could hardly have b

old gentleman's face, and he averted his gaze as h

t her existence was a constant source of distress to him. He was most anxious both

t there was no mentio

me for a secret purpose, will go, of course, to the girl. In the last ten years this property has practically doubled in value, and Molly will take p

onathan, "I

r any change in her circumstances-but unfortunately she has proved to be rather a wilful young person, and it has been impossible entirely to fulfil his intentions with regard to her. Ah, he wasn't wise always, poor Jonathan, but I never doubted t

be twenty-one nex

eventeenth, exactly te

an's d